Wednesday, 25 January 2017

I resisted for a while but I eventually fell down the crochet hole and cast on a scrappy blanket! I have so many leftover sock yarns and mini skeins and wanted to use them. I'd never been tempted by the knitted scrap yarn blankets before and was waiting for the right project, I found it when I met up with Dani at the Curious Handmade Christmas Party. We met at the Patenoster pub in London, which was so much fun meeting up with everyone, it is very near to the First Dates restaurant, we both love this t.v. show so we took a walk to have a look. Anyway, I digress, Dani had just started a scrappy granny stripe blanket and had bought it with her to work on whilst we had a natter. Oh my, it was stunning and that was the moment I knew what I was going to use all my minis on.

I'm calling mine the Cosy Nana Stripe Blanket, as my two gorgeous grandkids are picking the yarn for each stripe and the blanket will be for us to snuggle under. I'm not following the instructions for a traditional granny stripe as I use one colour for each row rather than two rows so each row is a different colour. I made a chain of 300+2, you can make it as big or as small as you want with multiples of 3 chains plus the 2 stitches, this is Attic 24's Granny Stripe tutorial.

I've got all my minis in a basket and I get Caiden and Darcie to pick 5 or 6 balls and put them in my project bag to used for the next few rows. So far I've loved how all the colours have worked together, though the yarn i buy are all very soft colours which tend to work together.

This is how far I've got with the blanket and I've got to say this is one of my all time favourite projects. It's such a therapeutic project and not easy to put down as I want to get to the next colour. One thing I am doing is magic knotting the yarn together so I don't have lots of ends to sew in which was another reason I love this project, here's a good tutorial by Jane Richmomd for Magic Knot.

I thought I'd share what I'm reading today for Ginny's Yarn Along, it's The Muse by Jessie Burton. I've been reading a lot of thrillers lately so this is a nice change of pace, it flits from Spain 1930's to London 1960's and is a compelling read. I'm also linking to Nicole's Keep Calm and Craft On.

Tuesday, 17 January 2017

Where has this week gone, it's flown by but as promised I'm back and have a renewed love for my blog. I would like to thank you for the welcome back comments and to Stefanie for the advice on different blog platforms.

Today I want to talk about a test knit which I've been working on.......

"It’s that moment between the last slow weeks of winter and the first sweet days of spring. There’s a gentle tension in the air as the thaw begins: the cosy joys of hibernation give way to a pleasant restlessness. Your heart stirs and the sap starts to run. This is a season of growth and change, but it begins quietly, deep in the frozen ground, before the last of the ice has even disappeared.

This time of year feels nearly miraculous. It offers a chance to renew the dreams that have slept for so long beneath a blanket of snow. The earth is preparing to surprise itself again with a wild swell of springtime creativity. It’s a call to adventure and an invitation to stretch our own creative powers. It’s time to uncover what this fresh new season has in store."

Helen of Curious Handmadeis hosting another MKAL (mystery knit along) and after the success of last year's, the Summertime Shawl, Helen is back with another stunning shawl design, the Snowmelt MKAL 2017. After reading those beautiful, descriptive words who wouldn't want to join in.

I can't give too much away as what would be the fun in that, been a mystery and all but what I can tell you, it is a three colour shawl! Helen used some gorgeous La Bien Aimee, single ply fingering weight yarn but any 4ply/sock yarn can be used. This pattern is a great stash buster for all those one off skeins that your not sure what to do with, speckled and varigated yarn also work really well with this pattern.

I did stashbust and used three pretty skeins that I bought from the Yarningham yarn festival, it's Whimzy Sokkusu O, a Superwash Merino in colours Ethereal, Dusky Rose and Chocolate. I absolutely love single ply yarn and after looking through my stash for this project, it made me realize how little single ply I have. I will remedy that and this year I will buy more soft, cosy single ply yarns from the yarn festivals I attend. Some of my favourite singles are La Bien Aimee, Mad Tosh Light and The Wool Barn Silky Singles so they are on my list to purchase.

There is already lots of chatter on the Snowmelt MKAL Ravelry Chat Thread, so if you want to join in the fun, it goes on sale on Ravelry this Monday, 23rd Januray at an early bird price, so look out for that. The MKAL runs for 5 weeks with one clue each week........

Wednesday, 11 January 2017

Happy New Year, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a good new year, as promised I'm going to make a conscious effort to blog more regularly. I'm still thinking about how I want the blog to go forward, whether I carry on with my original blog, change the name or even start from scratch, any advice will be greatly received. One of the reasons I stopped blogging is because I don't own a PC or laptop and the app I was using on my iPad became obsolete. I have just found a new app though and I'm hoping this one will work well, so far so good.

Last year, I took part in Kristen of the Yarngasm Podcastm Podcast Box O' Sox KAL which was knitting at least 12 pairs of socks during 2016 and storing them in a pretty box. I love knitting socks, using the wonderful array of sock yarns, from the pretty variegated, soft pastels, the brights and luxurious yarns such as alpaca and cashmere. It was even more fun joining in with the KAL and my goal was to get one pair of socks finished each month.

It was so popular that Kirsten is running it again this year which makes me very happy and I've already finished one pair this year. I cast on the Pomeranssi Sock by Marianne Heikkinen, a delicate and pretty lace pattern. Kristen has a Ravelry group where you can join in the chat or if you're on Instagram check out the #boxosoxkal2017 or #boxosoxkal. Instagram is my favourite social media platform and you can find me there as Tinkhickman.

I started them on New Years Day and was my first project of the year, it's actually all I wanted to knit on, the yarn and pattern were pure joy to work with. I used The Wool Barn Alpaca Sock a blend of baby alpaca, silk and cashmere. Yes, it really is as soft and luxurious as it sounds, they feel like cosy hugs on my feet.

The pattern is written for a sport weight yarn on 2.75mm needles on 56 stitches but as its a 8 stitch pattern repeat, I knit them with 4ply on my regular 64 stitches on 2.25mm needles. I finished them within the week and I've got to say, these are one of my favourite socks that I've knit.

Do you have a favourite sock yarn or pattern? I'd love to hear, I'm always on the lookout for new yarns amd patterns.